Watch widow's emotional reaction as late husband's Volkswagen is restored to former glory

Jan Clay was left speechless when the team at Volksmagic, a specialist VW workshop based in Oldbury, unveiled the fully restored Volkswagen 1303S Beetle, originally owned by her late husband, Joseph William "Joe" Clay.

The emotional handover marked the culmination of months of work on a vehicle that had once been written off as little more than a source of spare parts.

Joe had originally bought the Beetle in Bewdley, but the journey home proved eventful.

Jan recalled: "Coming home with it, the brakes failed. And that was the beginning of the restoration as he did it. Then one thing led to another. He just replaced everything."

The rare Beetle, originally finished in an uncommon gold colour, had deteriorated so badly that both Jan and the restoration team initially believed it was beyond saving.

"We thought it was a parts car, didn't we,” Lee "Magic" Southerton of Volksmagic said.” But it's definitely not a parts car. We opened that logbook and it's gold and it's a 1303S – and we have built Joe's car.”

The turning point came when restorers examined the car's original logbook. They discovered not only that it was a rare 1303S model in its original gold finish, but also a postcard from Volksmagic that Joe had carefully kept inside. The discovery inspired the team to restore the Beetle to its factory specification as a tribute to the man who had started the project himself.

Joe had spent years working on the vehicle before his death, replacing worn components with high-quality new parts but never getting the chance to complete the restoration.

The restoration was kept secret from Jan until the emotional reveal.

"It's his car restored to the original car, and we've named it Joe," Lee explained to her.

Visibly moved, Jan replied: "It’s totally unbelievable. I’m so pleased that it's finally been done because that's all he ever wanted... I never thought you could."

Lee explained they wanted to ensure the finished Beetle would have met Joe's exacting standards.

"With no disrespect to Joe, he was very fussy – very, very fussy – to the detail. Taking it back to what is on that logbook... we did good."

Far from becoming a museum piece, the restored Beetle now has an important charitable role. The car will be auctioned to raise money for Volksmagic's Santa's a Gangsta charity campaign, which supports children across the Black Country at Christmas.

Earlier this month the vehicle made its public debut at Bristol Volksfest, where visitors were able to see the remarkable transformation first-hand ahead of the charity auction.

Volksmagic also paid tribute to the many people who helped bring the ambitious project to life, alongside the numerous trade supporters whose expertise and long hours made the restoration possible.

For Jan, the project fulfilled a dream her husband never had the chance to see completed, ensuring that both his treasured Beetle and his passion for classic Volkswagens will continue to make a difference in the community he loved.

The Express and Star documented the full restoration process and will be revealing pictures and videos, right from the start of the journey, across a number of articles in the near future.